Censorship and how new journalism can fight it

The following is a copy of some commentary I've also written on the usenet regarding why the internet -- the 6th estate -- is so important to news gathering and how technology may finally help people destroy the weapons that start the most wars and hurt most:

Anyway, here's the deal as my commentary concerns the practice of journalism and why I posted it within these newsgroups. For reference, because the subject of this online conversation is contained within it, I'll give my news blog another plug:

http://www.NEWS4A2.com/

The commentary in question is:

"Not that there's anything wrong with that ..."

Heretofore, convention and technology has dictated that the story of the NFL censoring names that can be embroidered on NFL licensed jerseys would only be taken within the bounds of accepted decency as the publisher saw fit.

The article in the Times-Picayune was just begging to be stretched further, especially with examples of how impossible it is to censor things. Once you do it, you open up a whole new can of worms.

My commentary continues where the Times-Picayune left off. I have no advertisers to offend and my living does not depend on who I offend or don't offend. The internet gives me the ultimate freedom of self-expression to say: "The emperor has no clothes."

Here's another few examples from that web site. The NFL shopping site won't let you order a jersey embroidered with the words "nigger" or "spic" or "gook" but it will let you order jerseys embroidered with the words "kike," "muzzie," "cracker," "redneck," "polak," "wop," "limey," "slope," "spade," "rag head" and "frog." Are we to take it that "kike" is okay and "nigger" is not? Of course not. But you see one of the points I'm trying to make.

Words hurt only if society deems they are hurtful, and the NFL -- through censorship -- is reinforcing that. Words can be weapons to hurt the innocent only if they are viewed as weapons, treated as weapons, allowed to exist as weapons. Ban one weapon, another is developed to take its place -- "muzzie" as I understand it is what the English/Aussie/Kiwi slang for Muslim. I've never seen it before or heard it, but I can find (it) now all over the usenet and the Yahoo comment boards.

I'm white. If a black or hispanic person called me a "cracker" or "redneck" it doesn't bother me -- rolls right off. It's not a cutdown to me. When I was in high school, I wasn't the 6'4" giant I am now. I was a spindly nerd a foot shorter who would most often turn the other cheek as the bible says. And I didn't have the worldly experience and maturity of long view that I have now. The bullies (male and female) used to harass me terribly by calling me "fag," "queer" and worse. I wasn't and it hurt. The words were the weapons of stupid people who felt they could build themselves up by demeaning me. It was a Catholic high school and the students were never punished or reprimanded or even instructed for their meanness.

Have you ever seen a little kid who has repeated a word he's heard an adult say? The parents are embarassed. The kid doesn't know what the word means but he gets a reaction and that emotional reaction reinforces that words can be weapons. He wants attention from his parents. He wants that reinforcement. So he says it again and again and again. Until you swat him, and then he learns that words can be hurtful and have consequences. So he'll use the word among his friends who won't hurt him and he'll use the word to hurt his friends and others.

It's that old saying your parents told you: Sticks and stones will break your bones but words will never hurt you. Unless you let them.

The U.S. was finally starting to go down that path of acceptance until the political correctness of the Clinton era came. It was another vestige of a cheap southern governor corrupting this country as much as he corrupted his own state. Then everyone became a hyphenated American and words once again gained strength as weapons against the innocent, weak and society's vulnerable.

Want to get called a dirty name? Make up a name that sounds "naughty," tell your enemy it hurts you, and you'll never hear the end of it.

[True story: My late mother was old school Catholic and didn't want to curse but she did want to have something to say to express her consternation. She was the director of nursing at small community hospital and had her run-ins with physicians. I taught her the word "Fung-gwaar," and she'd get mad at work and say it and get all kind of looks. But she'd get the immediate attention she sought. It sounds horribly "naughty" but all it is is the romanized pronunciation of the Mandarin dialect word for "restaurant."]

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All truth passes through three stages:

First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

~ Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

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The post has been quoted and linked by Double-Toungued Word Wrester blog. Thank you! Just wait until the NFL finds your list Mr. Barrett. They think they've got an open can of worms now? The isht will fit the chan!